


The Shadow of the Abbey

by cowboybedrestyourhead



Category: Redwall Series - Brian Jacques
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23168878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboybedrestyourhead/pseuds/cowboybedrestyourhead
Summary: In the face of death, Shadow has a change of heart. Brought and healed in the abbey, he learns the ways of kindness, trust, and even love. How can this one small repentance, twist the strings fate forever?
Relationships: basil stag hare/shadow, basil/shadow
Kudos: 6





	1. A Crack in a Blackened Heart

CRACK 

That was the sound his skull made after Shadow was bashed off the wall of the church. Everything hurts so much he can't tell which part of him is worse off. 

"Cluny," His voice sounds faint "I'm hurt, help me" 

"Get up and run for it or stay here, fool. I don’t carry cripples or bunglers." 

And with that, Cluny the Scourge snatches the dear picture of Martin the Warrior and is off, Redtooth close behind. Shadow always thought death would come easy. That he would gladly die for Cluny. But now that he was actually here, actually dying? Now he desperately clings to life. The little mouse that chased him is here now, bruises already starting to form where Shadow had desperately kicked him in the face. He scrambles around searching for the tapestry. Seeing that it's not there, he turns to leave the rat, to follow Cluny. But a paw grips his ankle. 

"Please...." a wretched voice comes from the black mass on the ground "help me...." 

The mouse looks back and forth between Shadow and the way Cluny had gone. He realizes that the war rat is far gone by now, and with a sigh, he turns his attention to Shadow. 

He crouches down, and assesses his injuries. He reaches for Shadow's cloth, and starts tearing off strips. Once he has enough, he wraps them around his injuries. He starts with the head, which took a lot of the damage, and works his way down. Soon, the badger comes out and joins him. Their quick work is the only thing that saved his life. 

When Shadow wakes up, he hasn't the foggiest idea where he is. He tries to sit up as he surveys the room, but pain shoots through his body, forcing him to lay back down. Glancing around from his limited view from the bed, he figures out that he's in an infirmary. There's only one other patient, at the far end of the room. But other than that, he has no idea where he is. His head pounds and his vision blurs. Slowly, he starts to slip back into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. 

When he comes to again, the infirmary is full of patients. Healers bustle from patient to patient, filling the place with movement. He can hear shouting, clanging, moans of pain. He has to press his ears onto his skull to block the noise. His skin still is crawling from the noises as he falls deep into sleep once more. 

Crying. Someone is crying. These quiet sobs stir him from comforting sleep. He squeezes his eyes tight before finally opening them. He turns his head in the direction. A small mouse, barely a boy, crouches beside an older mouse, his fur starting to gray. With both his uninjured paw and the one in the sling grip the older mouse's paw. The old mouse doesn't stir. Shadow's eyes close. 

Shadow twitches. Something brushes against his fur. He's rapidly pulled back into consciousness as a mouse put her grubby paws all over his sleek black fur. He jerks away, startling the woman. He tries to back away with eyes darting every which way, but finds himself toppling over, wacking his head on the stone floor. He lets out a cry of agony, and tries to grip his concussed head, but discovers one of his arms in a splint. His whole body burns with pain. The woman helps him back into the bed, and he's too hurt to stop her. 

"Oh dear, I wasn't expecting you to wake up so soon." She carefully pries his paw away to survey the damage. "You've knocked yourself up pretty good, and that tumble certainly isn't doing you any favours. Drink this, it'll help with the pain" 

She presses a bottle to his lips which he gulps down greedily. Whether it actually helps, or kills him, anything is better than this horrid aching. The mouse talks as she works. 

"I'm misses Fieldmouse. I'm not much help in battle, so I offered to help with healing. My lovely daughter is out there serving food to all those not damaged by the awful fight. Now you are a mighty tough case. Cracked skull, an arm and a leg each broken, a fractured arm, sprained ankle, and three broken ribs. And that's without going into the other damages. But don't you worry, If anyone can get you right, it's us at the abbey." 

"How...." Shadow finally brings himself to say "...how long have I been asleep." 

"You've been out for half the week sweetie." 

Shadow let's put a groan of pain as she tightens his bandages. He sits in silence for a while. As she chatters, his eyes sweep the room. The bed where the old mouse had been was empty. 

"The mouse in that bed over there, the one with the greying fur. Where is he?" Shadow points to the empty bed, already knowing the answer. 

"Poor old man didn't make it." She shakes her head sadly "His grandson, his only remaining descendant, was broken to pieces when we had to lay him to rest with the others." 

The rat makes no more comments as she continues to work, tittering away. His lips stay shut even when she asks his questions. When she's finally done, he lays back down again. But sleep does not come this time. He's left alone to his thoughts. In the moment, he'd been desperate to escape the claws of death, but now it settles on him the gravity of what he's done. He betrayed Cluny, left his side for days, and he let the filthy mice tend to him. He may not be dead now, but if Cluny were to ever find out, he certainly would be. His mind replays these events over and over as he drifts back to slumber.


	2. A Warrior Casts a Light

"Shadow is that you?" 

"Cluny, I am here. Why do you want Shadow?"

"Did you see the walls of that Abbey today?"

"I was there. The Shadow sees all."

"Tell me true. Could you climb them?’

"No beast I know of could climb those walls.’

"Except you?"

"Except me."

Cluny gestures with his tail. "Come closer then. I will tell you what must be done."

Shadow sits on the top pulpit step. It's cold and uncomfortable but he gives no complaint. To do so would result in nothing but a good lashing. Cluny issues his orders. 

"You will climb the Abbey wall. Many sentries patrol the top, so take the utmost care. The first room you will find yourself in is the main one. The mice call it Great Hall. Walk in, turn around, and on the left wall facing you is a long tapestry covered in pictures and designs. Now listen carefully. In the bottom right-hand corner of that tapestry is a picture of a mouse dressed in armour, leaning on a big sword. I want it! Cut it, rip it, or tear it out, but get it for me. I must have it! Don’t come back without it, Shadow."

He's in the Abbey now. He glances around, unsure of how he got there. It doesn't matter, for he's in the room with the mouse knight. He approaches the tapestry, feeling like he's done this all before. He starts to knaw the image out, but when he glances up at the tapestry he finds that the mouse knight is no longer on it. He abandons his chewing to take a better look. Then he sees it. The mouse knight is in front of him. He approaches Shadow, who backs away in fear.

"Shadow." The beast calls out "You must return me."

"I-I cannot. Cluny... he would kill me."

The knight keeps approaching, pushing Shadow back and back and back and-. Shadow collides with something behind him. A boy donned in the same armor as the knight stands behind him, the helmet open to show the face of the puny mouse from before.

"Return me Shadow the rat." The knight demands "Shadow you must return me. You must bring me baaaaaaack."

Over and over and over again he repeats it. The mice close in on him on both sides until he has nowhere to go.

"Shadow. Return me or we shall both perish."

Shadow feels pain on his feet. A fire has started all around. He turns to the knight mouse, but he has become fabric once more, distorted and curling in the flames. The mouse boy glares down at him, but Shadow's eyes are only on the knight. He grabs tapestry, desperately trying to pat out the flames, but soon they engulf everything. He awakes, bleary eyed and unrested, to a light grey face with big floppy ears right in front of his own.


	3. A Friend in the Darkness

"You'd best be waking up right now if you know what's good for you, what what!"

Whatever that nurse mouse has given him has worn off, for he aches all over once again. He groans as he tries to sit up, and feels a splitting headache pierce his brain. He looks around to find himself crowded with creatures. They're all a hazey blob of shapes, only discernible when he focuses incredibly hard on one creature. Slowly, he makes out a grey hare, a badger, an old mouse, a mouse he assumes to be the Abbot and... him. The mouse from his dream. Shadow keeps his face blank, though the mouse boy makes him weary. He closes his eyes from the blur. Luckily, the Abbot provides a much needed distraction.

"My son. We have taken you in and cared for us as if you were one of are own, choosing to overlook what you have done for the time being. Please, tell us why you would turn against Cluny and beg for the help of us forest dwellers, after taking away that which is precious to us?" His voice is hard to hear over the ringing in his ears but he can tell it's stern, and he knows that any slip up could result in his death.

"I..." his voice is cracked and dry "...death is very motivating." He lets out a wry laugh that turns into a coughing fit.

"And how do we know we can trust you?" The badger questions.

Shadow doesn't respond. His eyes stare blankly at the ceiling as his vision swims.

"RAT!" Constance snaps. Shadow winces, covering his ears to the sound.

"I'll tell you the truth. I haven't the foggiest memory of what I'm supposed to be here. I know I was sent to get the mouse knight, but I know not why. Besides I am in no position to sit up, much less mess with Abbey." At this moment, his already sore stomach growls in hunger. He curls in on himself, realizing that the only thing he's eaten since the night of the fall was the pain relief potion. "Right now... all I want is some food and sleep..."

There's some murmuring between the the group. He stares at the swimming mass of the gray hare, has he bobs and sways. Shadow is just starting to drift off again, when the whispered argument ends. The creatures turn back to him.

"We will bring you food, and return later when you're in better condition" The Abbot says with a curt nod. "Basil, you will stay with the rat and see if you can gather any useful information from him. Mathias, Brother Methuselah, you shall return to your return to your investigation"

"What? Why me?" The hare questions dramatically, yet cheerfully.

"It was your idea after all Basil." The mouse boy, Mathias, chides playfully back with a grin.

"I suppose you're right, what what. Well get on with it. You don't have to sit here and keep me company. You've got important work to be doing." Basil shoos them out.

He sits down on the empty bed next to Shadow and leans back. Shadow's eyes land, unfocused, on him.

"So. Now that we're alone... or, as alone as we'll get. Why are you actually here." Basil narrows his eyes at the vermin.

"What reason have I to lie? I am on death's doorstep, as well as at your mercy" He winces as the ringing in his ears flares.

"Well that's precisely why, my boy. You would say anything to save your skin." Basil sounds unconvinced at his own statement.

"I truly can't remember. I don't remember how I became so injured, how I came to the Abbey, or why I was sent for the mouse knight-"

"Martin." Basil cuts off "Martin the warrior."

Shadow doesn't reply. It seems he didn't hear. Cornflower appears in the doorway carrying a bowl of celery soup and spoon. She weaves her way through the beds and stands beside Shadow.

"How goes the interrogation?"

"Chap won't spill a word tsk tsk. Claims he can't remember"

Basil feels a tug on his coat, and sees Shadow desperately reaching for the bowl.

"My dear I would love to stop and chat, but could you give the poor sap his food? No beast should be deprived of food, I say what what."

"Of course YOU say that Basil. Your stomach is bigger than a horse." Cornflower sets the bowl down on his chest. Ignoring the spoon, Shadow puts the bowl to his lips and chugs. "Well I've have to be going now."

"I understand! We've all got our jobs to do." As she departs Basil turns back to the rat and crouches down "Woah, you might want to slow down a bit, or else you might eat the bowl as well."

Shadow ignores him, noisily slurping his food.

"I'm serious chap. It's not good for your stomach to get food so quickly after having nothing for a while."

As if on queue, he shakily pulls the bowl away from his mouth. Basil only just manages to save to bowl and its contents as Shadow throws his head over the side of the bed and wretches. Basil jumps back in time to avoid getting splashed by the barely digested soup. He wretches until his stomach is completely empty and he's left dry heaving over the mess. Basil gently sets Shadow back up in bed, wiping the sick from his lips.

"I did try to warn you chap. Here, I'll help you with the last of this." Basil picks up the spoon, which has been knocked onto the floor, and dips it into the soup. He lifts the dripping spoon to Shadow's maw, which remains firmly clamped shut. "Come on, now's no time for stubborn pride. You nearly puked all over me, we're well past that. Besides, you need the food." 

Slowly, his jaw works open, and he lets himself be fed. The two are silent as his empty stomach starts to fill. When the bowl is nearly empty Shadow feels an ache in his chest, but it's gone before he knows it. He turns his head away from another spoonful of food.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Well this is an Abbey after all. Helping is what we do."

"No, I get that. Why are YOU helping me? I could have fed myself."

"Then why didn't you?" When Basil gets no response, he continues. "And as you said, you are in no position to even sit up. But you know what I think? I think you would've let me even if you could, what."

He gives him a grin and a wink. Shadow feels his temperature skyrocket. The worst part is, he's probably right. He can't stand to look the stupid hare in his stupid eyes.

"Fool. I would never let you make a mockery of me if I had a choice."

"I think you might be coming around to me, what what."

"What is it with you and those 'what whats' anyways?"

"Trying to change the subject, are you now? Now that's not very gentlemanly of you."

"From what I can remember, not much of me is gentlemanly at all." He grins cruelly, showing off sharp yellow teeth.

"By jove do you ever clean those gnashers?" Basil eyes the teeth with not fear, but disgust.

"What?" His lips relax back over his gums in startled confusion.

"Your teeth! They're hideous!" Basil reaches his hand out to lift his gums back up. Shadow is too shocked and weary to stop him."You really must take better care of these things. The first thing we're doing once you're better is giving them a good scrubbing what what."

"Shouldn't you be... doing... something? Why are you here again?" Basil pulls his paw back.

"Well, I was supposed to be interrogating you, but you either can't remember, or won't talk. Now, I just think you could use the company."

That can't be true. Why would the hare want to spend time with him, the enemy? It must be a trick to lower his guard. Make him slip up and spill. But his mind is so muddled, he couldn't give him any information even if he wanted to.

"You don't even know my name"

"I just assumed you forgot that too, what what. Though I suppose I have neglected to introduce myself. I am Basil. Basil Stag Hare, at your service sir." Basil doesn't for his name. He gives it anyways.

"Shadow....just Shadow" He finds his eyes drawn to Basil's whiskers, barely visible to him, bobbing up and down. To his round cheeks and wonderfully large teeth. They must be great for chewing through things.

"Awfully deary name ain't it? Who gave it to you anyways."

"Cluny. And it describes what I do. It serves its purpose."

"Typical Cluny. All edgy and war. No flare at all."

"At least my name makes sense."

Basil leaps up and puffs his chest out. "My name makes perfect sense! Basil means brave and chivalrous, which I am! Stags are noble creatures, and so I christened m’self one, with two toads and a newt as witnesses. And Hare, well as you say, is descriptive and serves its purpose."

"Alright alright. It makes sense or whatever, now will you please lower your voice." He wrinkles his nose in pain as the ringing has started again and fatigue is settling in again.

“Sorry chap. I tend to get a bit carried away.” He sits down on Shadow’s bed, right next to him. “Are you doing alright?”

Shadow barely hears him, and the words get lost in his mind. After he doesn’t respond, Basil gets up to leave, but is stopped by claws gripping his arm with what little strength is left in them.

“Alright, I’ll stay.”

Basil settles himself down next to him. The last thing that passes through Shadow’s mind before sleep overtakes him is just how soft Basil’s fur is.


End file.
